


Living the Lie

by Treon



Category: White Collar
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2013-11-03
Packaged: 2017-12-31 08:49:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1029718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treon/pseuds/Treon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tag to 4x11.  Why doesn't Neal get in touch with his mom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Living the Lie

Neal should have seen it coming - he knew Mozzie, he knew all about his family hang ups - but still, when Mozzie brought it up, it caught Neal off-guard.  
  
Mozzie had shown up to help Neal with the cleaning up following the Flynn sting.  Luckily for both of them, Peter had forgotten to stipulate that all the counterfeit Shackleton must be disposed of.  Two bottles were going to June, but the rest.. well, it was just a shame to throw away so much top-grade counterfeit whiskey, and the bottles they had prepared (just in case, of course) weren't good for anything else.   
  
Despite Mozzie's Marxist tendencies when it came to other people's money, he did not like the idea of volunteering to help out the FBI, and he already had a buyer lined up.  
  
Neal had nothing on his mind but filling up the bottles when Mozzie threw out the question, as offhandedly as he could.  "What about your mom?"  
  
"What about her?"    
  
Mozzie stopped lining up bottles on the kitchen table.  He knew this was a touchy subject, and so took a deep breath before plunging ahead.  "Now that you know the truth.. about your dad.  Shouldn't you reach out to her?"  
  
Neal didn't even need to think about that one.  He glanced at Mozzie, then focused his attention back on his bottle. "She lied to me, Moz."  
  
"So did your father.  So did Ellen," Mozzie pointed out quietly.  
  
Oh, like that helped.  "Thanks, Moz."  
  
"What I'm trying to say is that it took more than one person to keep up the fantasy."  
  
Neal couldn't believe Mozzie was actually blaming Ellen for everything.  Wasn't that exactly what his mother always did?  He shook his head.  "Ellen had no choice, and once I was old enough, she told me the truth."   
  
"Is that what she told you? Or what you're telling yourself?"  Mozzie was obviously not going to let it go.  
  
Neal didn't think he had anything to apologize for.  His mother had blamed Ellen for him running away, but Ellen only did what him mom should have done herself.  Tell her son the truth about his father.  He corked the bottle he'd been filling and reached out for the next one.  "My whole life was a lie, Moz."  
  
Mozzie grabbed the bottle before Neal could take it, forcing his friend to finally look up at him. "It wasn't your mother's fault you were in Witness Protection."  
  
"I'm not talking about WitSec."  
  
Mozzie didn't say anything, but the look he gave Neal was enough to show he didn't believe a word of it.  
  
Neal weakly attempted to grab the bottle back, but soon gave up.  Instead he picked up the next bottle in line, waving it at Mozzie to emphasize his point.  "You weren't there.  She'd sit there and spin stories about my father, the hero who sacrificed his life to save others."  
  
"All she did was give a little boy some hope."  Mozzie put the bottle down on the table.  "Your mother had so much to deal with, so maybe she made a mistake and didn't tell her son his father was a cop-killer.  And maybe she preferred to live in the dream too."  
  
Neal shot Mozzie a sardonic grin.  "You're turning into a psychologist now?"  
  
"I'm just saying.  You don't know how lucky you are.  Your parents are out there, and all you need to do is reach out to them."  
  
"You don't know how lucky _you_ are.  You can fantasize about your parents, I can't.  I _know_ my parents, OK?"  Mozzie's face hardened, and Neal realized that whether Mozzie deserved it or not, he might have been too harsh.  "You didn't grow up with my mom, Moz."  
  
After a short moment of silence, Mozzie tried again.  "You're not punishing her anymore.. now you're just punishing yourself."  
  
Neal started filling up the next bottle.  "I can live with that."  
  
Mozzie looked at Neal.  "So this has nothing to do with you discovering you've been living in Witness Protection all this time."  
  
"No.  It doesn't." Neal did not intend to give the idea another thought.    
  
"OK."  
  
"OK."  
  
"Long as you enjoy living the lie," Mozzie muttered under his breath.  
  
Neal looked up from his work.  "What?"  
  
Mozzie finally gave up.  "Nothing.  Let's just finish up with these bottles."


End file.
